Tunes Among Memories
by Moonsetta
Summary: He couldn't perish here and hurt his family. To take away that happiness, that sunshine, that heart from their lives would be disastrous. No one could live with that… He heard the distant sound of the cell door creaking open. Or die with it…


Hey everyone! I know, I've been gone for awhile. Well, I'm back! So here's a quick little story I couldn't get out of my head.

I don't own TMNT.

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The turtle grunted as he struggled against the chains, giving in when the strain was too much for his worn down muscles to work against. He sighed and then grimaced as a short, sharp, shock of pain shot up his spine. He could still feel that metal embedded into his shell, he wasn't sure if it was a dagger or some kind of sword. He definitely couldn't look back and see, because everything around him was flooded in darkness. He thought he had known true darkness before, but the sewers were home, this concrete room was a prison. He wasn't home. If the turtle was back home, he would know that his family was close by and that nothing bad would happen to them as long as they were there together.

The humming of a camera to his left set his mind to focus on something else, that's what his sensei had always taught him. At times like this, when he knew he was being watched, he hummed meaningless tunes that helped keep his memories alive and real. They reminded him, that his family would be looking for him, it helped him keep up hope. As the random humming turned into a certain tune, the mutant turtle found himself remembering so many things at once, of course, he probably had all the time in the world so he forced his mind to run through them slowly.

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The young turtle tot backed up against the wall, the red gaze staring into his eyes with hatred, fury and slight amusement.

"_So, you are the last that remains," the armored figure hissed before raising the two pronged gauntlet above the lone turtle._

_Normally, the turtle wouldn't have showed fear, he would've fought but no matter what the Shredder did, his eyes still saw what lay in a heap only 10 feet from them, the bodies of his family. Dead bodies._

_The gauntlet came down and he screamed. _

_Then-_

_He woke up and found four sets of arms trying to hold his struggling form still._

"_My son, it was a nightmare," the elderly gray rat said as the panicking turtle began to calm down. _

_He normally didn't have nightmares, and showing fear in front of his brothers was embarrassing but as green arms encircled him, he couldn't help but smile slightly and snuggle into the comforting presences around him._

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_The sound of the humming disappearing into the distance made the turtle sigh with relief. He hated being watched. Then, his attention was drawn to the other side of the small room when the heavy, iron door opened. The sudden light blinded him, giving the enemy Foot ninja enough time to fly across the room and hold him still while a figure in a white lab coat stepped forward with a syringe that was filled with a bright green liquid. A muscular Foot solider held the prisoner's head still as the white coated scientist jammed the needle into the helpless turtle's neck, smiling as a groan of pain immediately followed the action.

"Where are the others?" the scientist asked.

"What others?" the turtle replied with a smile and got the needle jammed into his thigh.

"The Shredder will get his answers."

Then, they were all gone and the suffering being was, once again, alone. That was why he was scared, it wasn't really the dark, it was the fact that he was alone in the dark. When he awoke from nightmares, there was no calming gaze telling him that everything would be ok and promising protection, there was no patient voice and there was no immediate action to dissolve the fear. The turtle wanted to curl up in his warm bed and sleep but that high pitched ringing was coming from the walls once again. He couldn't sleep with it on, of course, that was probably the Foot's idea. Didn't these idiots get it? You couldn't break him, no matter what.

If there was one thing he knew, it was that his family needed him. Past experiences proved this all too well. That's why he couldn't perish here. He had to be there to help them, he couldn't leave them. To take away that happiness, that sunshine, that heart from their lives would be disastrous.

No one could live with that…

He heard the distant sound of the door creaking open.

Or die with it…

Three panicked voices shouted his name before he found his arms falling from his sides as the chains were broken. Then, strong arms were around him and lifting him to sit up from his normal slouched posture. As his eyes adjusted he first noticed the green skin of the three figures that surrounded him, he spotted the tails of a red mask dangling in front of his face, felt three pairs of arms lift him into the air and then thought that, yes, he definitely couldn't leave them, ever.

When he sucked in a breath of air he tasted grass and paint, figuring out that he must be outside now. With the average sunlight he opened his eyes and groaned. The groan made the others sit him down.

"Bro?" a voice asked.

The injured turtle glanced up and smiled as his blue eyes met three pairs of brown.

"Don't worry baby brother, we'll get you home," a patient voice said.

"I'll lecture you about going out on your own later," a stern voice followed.

The third voice, remained only a whisper, "I'm glad you're safe Mikey."

Relying more on his hearing, the tired turtle turned towards the voice and snuggled into the hold of his red masked older brother.

"Thank you," was all he murmured before he was swept up again and his mind finally fell into the sleep it desperately needed.

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Ok, I know I haven't been seen in about a week. I'm sorry but I felt I was spending too much time on my computer and the internet so I decided to give my poor laptop a week of rest. Time has gone by very slowly since then. Well, I'm also moving and finishing my last few days of classes so I'll probably not be posting much in the next week or two. I'll try to post as much as I can though, writing's become such an obsession to me these days.

Hey, more stories on here though.

Well, I would very much appreciate some reviews on this. Now, please tell me you figured out which turtle was in trouble. I think I made it too obvious in the beginning. Anyways, this is another one-shot. Hope you enjoyed the story.

~Moonsetta


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